Cold weather payments are paid automatically to all those who qualify for them and no one needs to make an application.
Cold weather payment information is available only by weather station, not by constituency, local authority or region. Information for Great Britain is provided in the following table. Information on cold weather payments in Northern Ireland is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
The available information is provided in the following table.
Number of payments made 1991-92 3,827,000 1992-93 2,503,000 1993-94 2,064,000 1994-95 11,000 1995-96 7,252,000 1996-97 4,964,000 1997-98 55,000 1998-99 26,000 1999-2000 114,000 2000-01 3,535,000 2001-02 1,804,000 2002-03 1,675,000 2003-04 418,000 2004-05 213,000 2005-06 988,000 2006-07 402,000 2007-08 472,000 2008-09 8,416,000 Notes: 1. Since 1991-92 people have not had to claim to receive their entitlement to cold weather payments, as payments have been made automatically following a trigger. 2. The information provided is for the number of payments made. As some people may have received more than one payment in a winter, the number of payments made is generally greater than the number of people who received a payment. 3. The cold weather payment period runs from 1 November to 31 March for each year. 4. The number of payments has been rounded to the nearest 1,000. Source: Annual reports by the Secretary of State for Social Security / Work and Pensions on the Social Fund.